The Lagos State Government and a monarch in the state, the Ojomu of Ajiranland, Oba Tijani Akinloye, have advised the residents to cultivate the habit of tree planting to mitigate the impact of climate change.

The General Manager, Lagos State Parks and Garden (LASPARK), Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola, and Akinloye stated this at a tree planting campaign in commemoration of the 25th anniversary on the throne of Akinloye, in the Eti-Osa area of the state on Saturday.

Adebiyi-Abiola, who was represented by the Head, Local Government Parks and Garden Management, Halima Adeniji, said planting of trees would help protect the environment.

She added that 100 trees had been brought by LASPARK to be planted in Eti-Osa in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the monarch on the throne.

Oba Akinloye, in his speech, said the population growth in Lagos had translated to increasing pressure on land with profound environmental implication like deforestation and flooding, among others.

He said Eti-Osa, which was one of the wetland regions, had lost most of its wetland, leading to issues of flooding and erosion.

He stressed that to reduce the effect of flooding, tree planting was one of the mitigating measures.

“Today, we only see buildings, cars and concrete instead of trees and beautiful flowers. We are used to having polished lifestyles which have no benefits to the ecological system. The benefits that urban trees bring cannot be quantified.

“Apart from their capacity to reduce urban temperatures, they can also absorb pollution of all kinds of particles, chemical and even noise from the environment. Tree planting remains the cheapest mitigating option and the world’s second largest most effective means of absorbing excess carbon-dioxide from the atmosphere,” he said.

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President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday described climate change as a major threat to the peace and prosperity of Nigeria and its citizens.

He said it was therefore imperative for all hands to be on deck to ensure Nigerians work towards an inclusive, diversified and sustainable future.

Buhari said this while receiving a delegation of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He noted that in the Niger Delta region, man-made environmental problems had adversely impacted the lives of the people.

He said with or without foreign support, his administration had started the clean-up of the region, starting with Ogoni.

The President said he was pleased to learn that the communiqué at the end of ICAN’s 48th Annual Accountants’ Conference talked about environmental issues facing the country.

He said, “It is very clear to all of us that climate change and environmental challenges are major threats to the peace and prosperity of our nation and its citizens.

“In the Niger Delta region, man-made environmental problems have adversely impacted the livelihoods of the inhabitants. Farmers and fishermen in particular have seen their means of livelihood destroyed.

“Our assessments have shown it will take decades to reverse this damage. But we have made a start. With or without international cooperation, we are starting to clean up our degraded areas, beginning with Ogoni.”

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The Nigerian Conservation Foundation and a coalition of civil society groups, including Green Faith, have shared insights on ways to curb climate change and protect the environment.

The stakeholders gathered in Lagos for the Interfaith Rise for Climate, which was held to call national, sub-national leaders, government, private sector, faith-based institutions and other stakeholders to action, according to a statement.

In his keynote address, the Director General, NCF, Dr Muhtari Aminu-Kano, shared insights on Islamic principles and approaches to protecting the environment as defined in Eco-Islam, a movement pioneered by the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Studies.

He highlighted four Islamic principles, which he described as the foundation for the inter-link between environmental protection and Islam belief – Tauhid (unity), Fitra (creation), Mizan (balance) and Khalifa (stewardship).

According to him, Hima (sustainable management); Harim (protection); Waqf (trust fund); and Hisba (enforcement) are the approaches or mechanisms that Muslim societies have employed to observe and implement the tenets of the four principles.

Aminu-Kano stressed the need for a multi-faith intervention towards achieving alternative paradigm in reducing the impact of climate change and other environmental challenges in Nigeria.

He said to achieve the alternative paradigm, there was a need for moderation in human consumption pattern, environmental stewardship as well as ethical boundaries and contentment in human approaches to money and market, while considering holistic wellbeing as part of the framework for the new paradigm.

According to Aminu-Kano, examples of Muslim initiatives that have proven very successful in environmental protection are Eco-Islam, Islamic Declaration on Climate Change, and Green Muslim Climate Network, among others.

The statement said other speakers included representatives of the Christian faith and the Buddhist community in Lagos, who also shared their respective faith insights about environmental protection.

It noted that the plenary session gave an opportunity to discuss modalities to further work together as a multi-faith network towards advancing the work of creation and protect the environment.

Environmental awareness in faith-based institutions was identified as one of the first steps to use in evangelising and engaging followers of all faith institutions in driving action on environmental protection.

In order to continue the conversation around engaging faith institutions in driving climate action, Aminu-Kano announced the NCF’s plan to host a public lecture and engage with faith leaders towards a strong campaign to save the Nigerian environment.

According to him, this will be launched in 2019.

According to the statement, a joint faith declaration was made with seven key action points for faith-based institutions, which were based on public environmental awareness, engagement with faith-based governance structure, mainstreaming environment into theological doctrines and curriculum, and commitment to divest from fossil fuel to renewable energy-powered worship centres.

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The Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, has attributed frequent clashes between farmers and herders to climate change.

Onu said this while declaring open the Inception Workshop on Technology Needs Assessment for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Nigeria on Monday in Abuja, according to a statement made available to one of our correspondents by the Head, Press and Public Relations Unit of the ministry, AbdulGaniyu Aminu.

The minister cited herdsmen/farmers’ clashes as a fallout of climate change resulting from depleting arable land.

He stressed the need to fight desert encroachment and other problems arising from depleting arable land.

Failing to do this, he said, there would be nothing to present to the future generation.

Onu cited China and Israel as countries that had been able to fight desertification by converting dry land to arable land, adding that they succeeded thereby in creating job opportunities and reducing poverty.

He said, “Climate change is not something to fear. Rather, we should confront it and utilise all science, technology and innovation applications to create opportunities for economic and social development.”

Onu tasked the National Steering Committee on Technology Needs Assessment on Climate Change to come up with practical solutions to combat the challenges of the desert and coastal encroachment in Nigeria.

He also called on research institutes across the country to apply science, technology and innovation to address the challenges of climate change in the country.

The representative of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, Dr Reuben Bamidele, said that UNIDO would be available to provide support to Nigeria during the technology needs assessment process and in developing a road map and strategy for climate change technology management in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said that clashes between farmers and herders have now reduced in the country.

He said he was glad that several measures put in place by the Federal Government were responsible for the reduction.

Mohammed spoke in Gusau, Zamfara State, on Monday, at the sixth Special Town Hall meeting on farmer-herders clashes.

He insisted that the clashes had no religious or ethnic colouration.

He described the clashes as an act of banditry.

He, therefore, urged Nigerians to reject those who he said were trying to introduce religious and ethic colouration into the crisis.

“Unfortunately, this has not received the kind of media coverage that was given to the killings. I appeal to the media to correct this.”

“The drastic fall in the killings resulted from concerted and committed actions by the Federal Government. Measures taken to curtail the farmers-herders clashes, cattle rustling and other acts of banditry include the deployment of a Joint Military Intervention Force, comprising regular and special forces personnel from the army, air force and navy, and working in collaboration with the Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services, and Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps, establishment of the Army’s 2 Battalion Forward Operating Base in Kanfanin Doka Village, Birnin-Gwari, Kaduna State.”

“Establishment of a new Area Command and two additional Divisional Police Headquarters in the Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna State, the establishment by Nigerian Air Force of Quick Response Wings in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba states, and deployment of Special Forces to these Quick Response Wings.”

According to Mohammed, other measures taken to tackle the menace of armed herdsmen, cattle rustlers, communal militias, kidnappers and other bandits include the inauguration, by the Nigeria Police Force, of a new Mobile Squadron in Takum, Taraba State and Operation ‘Whirl Stroke’ operating in Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba and Zamfara states.

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In 2015, 195 countries stated their commitment at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C, above pre-industrial levels.

The commitment also involved efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C, recognising that this would significantly reduce the risks and impact of climate change.

According to a recent study, more than a quarter of the planet’s surface could become significantly drier if global temperatures rise to 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

The study suggests that many regions may face an increased threat of drought and wildfires, adding that limiting global warming to under 1.5°C will avoid extreme changes for two-thirds of these areas.

“Aridification is a serious threat because it can critically impact on areas such as agriculture, water quality, and biodiversity,” a co-author from the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen China, Chang-Eui Park, says.

African countries, including Nigeria, are said to account for 3.8 per cent of the global greenhouse gas emissions, which cause global warming, compared to 23 per cent of China, 19 per cent of the United States and 13 per cent for the European Union.

But no continent will be struck as severely by the impact of climate change as Africa, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.

The UNEP says, “By 2020, between 75 and 250 million people on the continent are projected to be exposed to increased water stress due to climate change. In the same year, in some countries, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50 per cent.

“Global warming of 2°C would put over 50 per cent of the continent’s population at risk of undernourishment. Projections estimate that climate change will lead to an equivalent of two to four per cent annual loss in the Gross Domestic Product in the region by 2040.”

The 2014 World Climate Change Vulnerability Index classified Nigeria as one of the 10 most climate-vulnerable countries, and Lagos as the 10th most vulnerable city in the world.

“It is possible to keep the climate below 1.5 degrees of warming but unlikely if we continue the way we are doing things now,” the Chairman, Lekki Urban Forest and Animal Sanctuary Initiative, Mr. Desmond Majekodunmi, tells our correspondent.

He says, “A few of the really catastrophic weather occurrences that happened last year are indicators of what happens when we allow it to go beyond what it is meant to be; it is already one degree above average and we are seeing unprecedented types of weather occurrences all over the world.

Nigeria became a party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1994 and ratified its Kyoto Protocol in 2004.

The country submitted its First National Communication in 2003 and a Second National Communication in February 2014.

In September 2012, the Federal Executive Council approved the Nigeria Climate Change Policy Response and Strategy, whose strategic goal is to foster low-carbon, high-growth economic development and build a climate-resilient society.

In November 2015, Nigeria submitted its new climate action plan, Intended Nationally Determined Contribution, to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Under a business-as-usual growth scenario, consistent with strong economic growth of five per cent per year, Nigeria’s emissions are expected to grow to around 900 million tonnes per year in 2030, which translates to around 3.4 tonnes per person.

The country says it will make an unconditional contribution of 20 per cent below BAU that is consistent with the current development trends and government policy priorities.

The policies and measures that will deliver these savings, it said, included improving energy efficiency by 20 per cent, 13,000 megawatts of renewable electricity provided to rural communities currently off-grid, and ending gas flaring.

“The role that we can play in Nigeria is to first and foremost persuade ourselves of the utmost importance of controlling global warming. The environment is our life support system; it is our children’s life support system, and it is entrusted in our hands,” Majekodunmi said.

The renowned environmentalist, who is promoting natural climate solutions such as reforestation and forest protection in Nigeria, notes that the continued flaring of natural gas in the country has contributed to global warming.

He says it is a big embarrassment that many Nigerians “are still using firewood for cooking, whereas other nations are importing our gas and using it.”

The total volume of natural gas flared by oil and gas companies in the country rose by 17.46 per cent year-on-year to 287.59 billion standard cubic feet in 2017, according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

The Federal Government has said that eliminating flaring by 2030 can save around 64 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Majekodunmi says, “Equally embarrassing, or maybe more embarrassing, is that Nigerians are using generators to give themselves electricity in their houses and businesses. It is a major contributor to our carbon footprint.

“As if that isn’t bad enough, we are busy destroying the little remaining forest that exists; forest is a carbon sink.”

The continued heavy reliance on fossil fuel-powered generators in Nigeria by government institutions, businesses and households for electricity supply constitutes a major threat to the nation’s climate change plans.

In Nigeria, diesel or petrol generators have become the primary source of electricity for most businesses and households, as supply from the national grid remains abysmally low.

According to the 2015 African Progress Panel report, Africa cannot afford to stand on the sidelines of the renewable energy revolution, and can play its part in the revolution and tackle the challenges of transitioning away from fossil fuels.

It says low-carbon technologies can be rapidly deployed to expand power generation and to extend the reach of energy systems.

The Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Mr. Nnimmo Bassey, says Nigeria should not be left behind “as the world is moving away from dependence on fossil fuel,” adding, “So, the best thing we have to do is to move ahead to renewable energy.”

According to him, the impact of global warming is very obvious in Nigeria, with increased desertification, erratic rainfall pattern, serious coastal erosion, part of which can be attributed to rising sea levels and the degradation of natural barriers on the coastal lines.

“We need to switch to energy sources like solar and hydro power. Any source that will not raise the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is a better alternative,” the Director-General, Africa Clean Energy Summit Group, Dr. Victor Fakorede, says.

Majekodunmi stresses the need for the country to encourage massive reforestation across the country and curb agricultural emissions as part of efforts to fight the effect of climate change.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s 2015 Global Forest Resources Assessment, Nigeria annual rate of deforestation is 3.5 per cent approximately, 350,000 to 400,000 hectares.

“We can no longer continue to be so much a part of the problem, and we have to decide to be a part of the solution. We should acknowledge that this problem if not stopped will become unstoppable and catastrophic in few years time. Unstoppable in the sense that spontaneous releases of other greenhouse gases would have been provoked,” he says.

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Surveyors in the country have been urged to improve on their various institutional roles in order to help fight the effects of climate change in the country.

Experts noted that as the country continued to grapple with environmental problems emanating from global warming as witnessed in perennial floods, desertification and drought in the North, and coastal erosion in the southern part, which are made worse by haphazardly planned city structures, surveyors had more jobs to do.

At the 13th Annual Adekunle Kukoyi Memorial Lecture, organised by the Nigerian Institution of Surveyors, Lagos State Branch, the Chairman, New Partnership for Africa’s Development Business Group of Nigeria, Dr. Nike Akande, stated that the 2015 heat wave in Europe, which pushed global temperatures to the highest in the history of human race; flooding on the east and west coast of Germany; the covering of one-third of Bangladesh by flood waters; and deadly hurricanes in the United States, were all harsh realities of climate change, which Nigeria must avoid.

Akande, who spoke on ‘Climate change and roles of surveyors’, said the cases of drought and flooding disrupting seasons and leading to economic losses and the displacement of millions; arid and semi-arid northern Nigeria becoming dried-up; and unsustainable environmental plan and policy were all products of irrational decisions made over the years.

“Surveyors, as built professionals saddled with the responsibility of planning from the preliminary stage of the construction process, have the responsibility to identify likely environmental problems and proffer futuristic solutions,” she stated.

Akande, who is the immediate past President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said in playing their roles to mitigate against the effects of climate change, surveyors must consider development designs, project management, land administration, information management and monitoring as areas that they must make meaningful contributions to in the built environment.

“The growing population and urban migration have continued to over-stretch public facilities in urban centres as seen in Lagos, hence, the need for surveyors and the entire value chain of the construction industry to always conceptualise virgin ideas aimed at putting in place eco-friendly infrastructure to stop inherent ecological problems, as well as forestall looming catastrophe on the environment,” she noted.

A past President of the NIS, Prof. Francis Fajemirokun, who spoke on behalf of the incumbent President, Akin Oyegbola, said it was important for the human race to leave the planet better than they met it.

“Surveyors must be enterprising enough to identify survey contents in all the challenges facing humans as caused by climate change,” he stated.

“Government must ensure the negotiations suit our own terms and not to the exploitation of Nigerians,” he added.

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The name Idi Amin has gathered so much negative connotations over the years that it is understandable why most people in today’s world may not want to know anything about the man behind the name. It is taken for granted that there is nothing good about the former Ugandan head of state, Gen. Idi Amin Dada. The consensus: He was one of the worst leaders that ever walked the planet; a disgrace to Africa.

Most of the films and media materials about him perpetuated this perception. In biographical movies, he was depicted as a paranoid despot, a flesh-eating daylight vampire, a buffoon whose only educational qualifications were the ones he awarded himself when he became the overlord of the 24 million-people landlocked East African enclave in 1971.

I still cannot erase my memories of one of such movies which I watched during my primary school days. My innocent mind could not comprehend such barbarity – where an archbishop was killed by a President, and in the next scene the murderer opened his refrigerator and pulled out a blood-wet chunk of human flesh and chucked it into his fetish mantra-reciting mouth. It was horrifying.

In fact, one of such flicks, the Last King of Scotland, played by one of my favourite actors, Forrest Whitaker, won an Oscar. I saw the movie in 2007. Great performance by Whitaker, which I enjoyed because I was an adult and was not horrified. By then, I knew it was just a movie.

Believe it or not, most of the dramatic depictions of Idi Amin are not accurate. They were exaggerated for effect, and to institutionalise the already existing image of the tyrant as painted by the Western world immediately his politics turned East-friendly during his years in power in the 1970s.

An aside: This is why I always maintain that leaders should write their own story, no matter how ugly. The narrative you pen of yourself shall aid posterity when the time comes for a posthumous court hearing in order to determine your legacy profile. If you did not leave a memoirs or autobiography, your enemies shall write one for you. At that time, nobody would be able to contact you to edit the copy.

It was of recent that I finally took time to watch a true life documentary film on Idi Amin. I listened to him talk in real interviews and attend to real life government demands and functions as the head of state, not dramatised or staged. It was not perfect, but it was a fair portrayal of a real (bad) man in a real environment. It is left for the viewer to judge, without having the “badness” shoved down their throat.

The title of the movie is “General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait” a 1974 documentary film made by French director, Barbet Schroeder, with English dialogue. The film depicts Amin at the height of his power. It is an extended character study of its subject, which followed Amin closely in a series of formal and informal settings, combined with several short interviews in which Amin expounds his unconventional theories of politics, economics, and international relations.

Included in the film are many candid scenes of Amin and his military in action: the paratroopers practise their exercises on a slide similar to those that would be found in a children’s playground; a welcoming committee of villagers is forced to flee the dust and backdraft from Amin’s helicopter as it lands; a cabinet member picks his nose with the end of a pencil during one of Amin’s speeches in a cabinet meeting.

In one sequence, Amin rebukes his cabinet ministers for their failure to represent Uganda “correctly” to the world. Even while remonstrating with his foreign minister for his public-relations failures, he is jocular and joking as always – two weeks later, the documentary points out, the foreign minister’s body was found floating in the River Nile.

It was in the movie, while he gave a particularly interesting interview sitting backing a lush garden, that I discovered that Idi Amin had a “green streak”, that is, a leaning towards environmentalism. Amin’s environmental proclivities no one has ever noted, ostensibly because the people he killed never allowed the world take notice of the trees he saved.

In the interview he discussed how to effect environmental awareness among the populace.

“You can educate people through traditional dance. How to make a good garden like this – it will be in the song. When you are singing people are watching. You talk about the flowers, how you can make a very good garden in your house.”

As the interview progresses, one notices that Amin becomes suddenly excited, as one who is discussing a deep passion exudes when expressing such innate feelings. He suddenly interjectes, “This song has got meaning. I must go and make this song!” I also noted that the next sequence in the documentary film shows a Ugandan drama troupe entertaining audience in a green themed dance-drama where the actors and dancers all wear leaves and wield one wildlife artifact or the other.

The interview continues, “You must have a house with pit latrine. Make it clean. People understand all. And you must boil water before you drink because you may help disease in the stomach; you are helping the doctor (by boiling your water before drinking).”

Here, Idi Amin was discussing water sanitation and hygiene matters in a most rudimentary manner which once again shows an underlying concern for environmental challenges. I do not think that as a military leader he was playing politics by trying to discuss the issues that the people faced. A leader such as himself almost always stays with discussions of governance at a high level, and assigns civilian appointees and associates to outline details. I believe that for him to go from describing military operations to detailing WASH survival tips – while wearing full military regalia – he must be an environmentalist at heart.

What is more, he also hinted at a crude understanding of global warming. Remarkably, that was at a time when the idea of a warming earth had not even been broached by scientists.

Continuing in the interview, he said, “You must work hard. You must produce more foods for export, for selling, to get more money, and for reserve in case of dry season, because of the hot sun. You will have a reserve food in your store. You will not die of hunger.”

I underline the phrase “because of the hot sun” due to its significance. When Amin gave the interview, the word, “global warming”, had not entered the dictionary. The term, global warming, was first used in its modern sense on August 8, 1975 in a science paper by Wally Broecker in the journal called “Are we on the brink of a pronounced global warming?”

So, I believe that in spite of Amin’s blotched image, he had all it takes to metamorphose into a green giant. If the idea of global warming and climate change was on the global front burner in his time, there was the likelihood that he would have used the term in his interview – and propaganda. Hence, instead of saying that Ugandan farmers were threatened by the hot sun, he would have said they were threatened by climate change.

Indeed, knowing the kind of showy politics he played at the global scene, he was the kind of African leader that would easily become the self-appointed apostle of climate change. He would have sought to out-play America’s former Vice-President Al Gore. He would have gone to Europe to embrace green politicians like the French green politician Dominique Voynet. He would have sought to become a green star.

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Pope Francis on Thursday condemned climate change deniers, those who are indifferent to the problem, and those who place too much confidence on technological solutions to it.

“We should avoid falling in these four perverse attitudes […]: denial, indifference, resignation and trust in inadequate solutions,” Francis said in a message to the ongoing world climate change conference in the western German city of Bonn.

Quoting from his pro-environment 2015 encyclical Laudato Si, the pope called for “a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all.”

Francis said he hoped the Bonn meeting could be productive and may “consolidate the will to take effective solutions to counteract the phenomenon of climate change and at the same time fight poverty and promote a truly integral human development.”

Oxfam has said that in its analysis of policies and public investments in six countries, it has found that women farmers are not getting the resources they need to feed their families and communities and adapt to climate change.

“This exposes a sham in the rhetoric and commitments by countries and donors to shore up the agricultural sector and to focus support on women farmers,” the organisation said.

According to the organisation, the findings come in a year of rising hunger, fuelled by conflicts and super-charged weather events, and that having looked at agricultural policies and public investments in Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tanzania, it has found two major problems.

“First, very little money is going to support small-scale farmers and helping them become more resilient to climate change. Second, it’s almost impossible to know how much is really reaching women farmers, a group especially threatened by climate change,” Oxfam said.

The Head of Oxfam’s GROW Campaign, Rashmi Mistry, was quoted to have said that climate change was no longer a far-off threat.

Mistry said, “It’s here now and putting lives in danger. Governments are breaking their promises to give more resources to farmers. Women on the front line of climate change can’t continue to struggle on while waiting for money to trickle down to them.

“Investing directly in women farmers not only helps them and their families; it bolsters the food security for entire communities. Oxfam is calling on donor governments to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and step up their funding aimed at helping communities adapt to climate change.

“Developing countries must increase funding specifically for women farmers. African countries must also honour the Maputo Declaration that commits 10 per cent of all government spending to go on agriculture development.”

These commitments, Oxfam noted, offered huge benefits, adding that discriminatory attitudes and policies meant women farmers would produce about 20 to 30 per cent less than men and closing this gap would lift millions out of hunger and poverty.

The organisation said the countries investigated were all struggling to get enough climate adaptation funding.

It said, “In Pakistan, just 26 per cent of the $1.17bn in climate finance they received in 2014 went to adaptation. Worse still, as of this May, Nigeria has received only $15m for adaptation, a sliver of what others have had. As of last year, multilateral adaptation funding for small-scale farmers totalled just $345m, far short of the many billions that estimates show developing countries will need.

“To make matters worse, Oxfam found that governments do almost nothing to make sure women farmers benefit from these insufficient amounts of climate and agriculture funding. For example, in Nigeria, climate adaptation policies simply “encourage” women to participate in initiatives, but go no further. These policies do little to support the specific needs of women farmers, like improving their access to land, credit, technical training and seeds.”

According to Oxfam, in Nigeria, volatility of prices, weather and climate change, and conflict have made access to food particularly harmful for vulnerable people and this has led to hunger and malnutrition.

The Head of Influencing and Public Engagement, Oxfam in Nigeria, Abdulazeez Musa, said Nigeria accounted for 15 per cent of under-five child mortalities worldwide, and in the northern part of the country starvation had wiped out this age group entirely.

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